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Pray without ceasing

Earlier this year, during the lead-up to Easter, I received a text from an ex-student from the class of 2021 who had joined the young adult cell I am helping out at, “Me and PT are praying for the cell thing, you’re on my list for tmr! Pls lmk how i can pray for you…” I first bumped into this ex-student when I found her crying near the music room over an audition. Never in a million years could I foresee this happening. In her words, “it’s almost like the roles are swapped.” At that time, I felt richly blessed, and utterly amazed by how God works. 

I did not make much of that incident, except to remark to my wife that it was the second ex-student whom God had sent to surprise me.  Last year, I invited another ex-student whom I taught in 2008 to attend my cell group. I happened to share about the upcoming move to a new school and how uncertain I felt. The ex-student offered to pray for me, and I felt very touched. It was as if God understood caregiver fatigue, and was sending those who were cared for back to care for the carer. Yesterday, after I posted “The Purpose of Movement”, I received a pleasant surprise from this same ex-student who texted to check-in on me. Interestingly, she shared about her prayer life. I saw it as a reminder about my own prayer life, but again, I didn’t make much more of it. 

Then during the final session of the church camp this morning, it hit home. Our speaker, Mrs Lai-Kheng Pousson, spoke about how the most unique part of the Christian faith is that it is a relationship with God. And one important aspect of this relationship is prayer. Prayer is how we communicate with God, and how we invite God to commune with us. Unfortunately, this has been a long-neglected weak area of my spiritual life. More than a blessing for me, more than a reminder of God’s goodness, the encounters with my two ex-students over the past year are also an admonishment for me to start praying more fervently, especially for my students. I discerned two messages from this revelation: 

The first message is regarding my own spiritual life. A spiritual life that is short on prayer is like a relationship based mostly on social media and texts, without the immediacy of phone calls or face-to-face conversations. It can still be genuine, but it is clearly sub-par, and very much akin to a relationship that is on life-support - not dead yet, but certainly not thriving.   

The second message is regarding my ministry with my students. Prayer puts our care and concern into words. It expresses our love in a tangible way. In praying and sharing our prayers with those we are interceding for, we are also inviting them into the relationship we are having with God. Christianity is a relationship with God. It is not theology to be debated, it is not a conviction that one feels. It is a connection that has to be experienced. Only then, does God become real. Only then, can the lost be saved. For salvation happens only when one encounters Jesus, and experiences the love of God.  




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